Tears of Joy in the Garden of Giants

December 2005

Digital painting made in December 2005 using pencil sketches and Photoshop coloring. Served as a prototype for the painting.

I had this thought one day about the fact that feelings belong to oneself, and that it was foolish to pretend being able to share. Later I found that maybe, thanks to art, their was a possibility for the sharing to happen.
As an artist, I consider it's my mission to give shape and color to feelings that otherwise are trapped within an individual. With time I turned to be a quite "romantic" person, in the literary definition of the term, i.e. a person who is fascinated by the spectacle of his own feelings.
In the immense diversity of emotions one can feel, I choose to extract a striking and rare one and turn it to spectacle. This emotion is a joy so immense that it makes cry tears; smiling and weeping at the same time, the widest range of behaviors concentrated in one single emotion.
As a general rule: Contrast makes Intensity.
With this idea in mind (and the heart filled with this very emotion) I built that scenario in which some external people would be eventually the spectators of this very intense feeling.

'... there was a bunch of beautiful seeds that ancient gardeners had planted one hundred years ago. Men built a beautiful glass roof to protect their growth. Gardeners fed them with love and with water, thus they grew up well.
Time passed and the old gardeners too. Men slightly became uninterested in nature and the building was left aside.
Men had chosen to have the Progress grow up instead of seeds. Abandoned, nature started to behave strangely; the weather became disturbed all around the globe.
One day a strange thing happened. A sun extremely bright was warming up the earth, and suddenly a warm rain started to fall at the same time.
Under this unique rain shower, the giant plants woke up. In front of astonished wanderers they unfolded their branches and extended their fingers to the sky.
Joyful teardrops flooding their wooden eyes, for once in a one century lifetime the giants plants were crying to the rain.'

I know you here this a lot but...as a young artist I deeply aspire to reach your dedication and artistic abilities. To be able to put so much emotion, so much thought and so much time onto a canvas...its breath taking, its like poetry a rose blooming in the spring time rain...I take my hat off to you and I hope that the inspiration you have given me will grow into a beautiful and unique talent. So that I too, can share my thoughts and feelings to the world in such an elegant and glorious manor.

Suchitra

May 5, 2009 3:24

u do the most amazing things with the colour green......there is a whimsical feeling in all ur paintings that makes one forget the real world and transcend into one where only beauty and the senses remain.....again....exquisite!the night my cloak, the silence my friendthe wounds unhealed that open wideshattering the world where i pretendinto my realm of pain i strideand i bathe myself in joyous tearswelcoming the hurt insidedrenched in the questions that i feari find myself when i hide!!!!

tena

Feb. 6, 2009 13:11

This is the most beautiful painting I've ever seen, and trust me, I've seen a lot. This is just... Wow

emmy

Dec. 2, 2008 13:50

your work is absolutely breath-taking. I won't even bother asking about the amount of time you put into it...the detail, soul, and integrity of all your pieces is evident.Your style is also consistent, in a good way.

I'm sure you will have many collectors from all over the world (if you don't have them already)!

Michaël

Dec. 14, 2008 0:51

Thank you !
Oh I do have people wanting to buy, from time to time. But I keep refusing ;) (because I'm not famous enough on the art scene, thus they are to shy offering the price the hard work I've put deserves )
Let's just wait a few more years until I grow better !

Läri

Aug. 15, 2008 15:44

I'm just in love with your work. Everything is so perfect. the emotions the background, just everything!!I love it!Au revoir :]

Great piece, I am currently using it as an inspirational piece to create something of my own. Modeling through Maya, texturing with CS3, and possibly sculpting similiar dryad like creatures intertwined with the supports in the roof, with their branches reaching up and stretching out to wrap around the supporting structure.

If I ever had the money*, I would run out and purchase this painting as the very first painting I would buy. The first time I saw it and read the words that accompany it just left me speechless - it's something so out of this world yet seems so real.

At times like these, I'm so grateful that there are people out there with such wonderful talents to translate what they see in their mind's eye.

I'm not an artist so I can't offer constructive thoughts, but from someone who loves this painting, thank you very much for painting this.

*'cause I'm a poor undergrad so I have a long way to go to build up the $$$!

sophie

May 6, 2007 8:16

you are truely amazing. words cannot describe the endless boundries of your talent. wow. what i would give to have your talent. water is something i have never and will never master. but you have captured it perfectly.

Unbelievable, so much life with this image. You're a true artist, thanks for sharing your art for the world to see. Very inspirational work. Any chance you'll create a tutorial at some point? Reveal all your secrets damnit!

Hello, this painting leaves me in awe everytime I see it. I can't wait to see the reproduction you've done on canvas, there must have been many weeks of planning and preliminary work involved in this piece. How do you come up with such a concept? Do you ever plan on displaying your sketchbook?

It would be neat to see the creation.

Michaël

Apr. 19, 2007 10:15

I provided steps and explanations about this painting
at CGTalk's, but there has been several studies and sketches done preliminary to the lineart you'll see. I don't plan to publish them though.

mel

Dec. 10, 2006 21:41

This is truly the most amazing painting Ive ever seen...i could stare at it forever. I think you've captured the emotion perfectly.

Michaël

Dec. 13, 2006 11:20

Thanks for your kind words. I hope the canvas version will please you as much, once it's done.

this painting is simply outstanding.... love it..I would like to ask you some question.. how did you learn to create such beautiful perspective and anatomy??Do you know some good books that can help?? 'cause every time I paint something I've to use reference to make thing right, and this is really annoying.. Hope you can answer my questions;) looking forward your next paintings!

Michaël

Dec. 7, 2006 23:54

I've learnt anatomy thanks to Burne Hogarth's book series mostly. Even though they look a bit old-fashioned those books are still a very valuable reference. Theory and real model practicing complement very well, anyway it's a never-ending learning process.